The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto

As the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, the story of Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台) is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers. Read more about the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.

The story also inspired the production of Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, or Liang Zhu Violin Concerto as known in Chinese, a work for violin and orchestra. It was composed by Chinese composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao in 1958.

Here we offer the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto and as the melody goes, we'll describe what each section of the music signifies and how they are relevant to the butterfly lovers' story. The concerto is in one movement, but is broken into distinct sections. Each tells a different part of the story of the Butterfly Lovers. Some of the melodies come from the Chinese Opera of the same name or from traditional Chinese folk songs. The solo violin of the concerto is symbolic of Zhu Yingtai, the story's protagonist, and the cello part is symbolic of Liang Shanbo, her lover.

The concerto begins with a flute and then enters into a simple melody played by the solo violinist. This melody comes from a Chinese folk song of the yellow river, and tells the story of Zhu Yingtai's childhood. The solo violin is accompanied by a harp and other elements of the orchestra.

Next, the concerto tells of Zhu Yingtai's disguising herself as a man and her journey to Hangzhou to attend school. The solo violin plays a complex and fast melody floating above the rest of the orchestra. When Zhu arrives she meets Liang Shanbo, a fellow student. This section is called 草桥结拜(cǎoqiáo jiébài), meaning sworn "brothers" at the pavilion "草桥." The two spend three years together as good friends. Zhu falls in love with Liang, but cannot express her feelings without revealing her identity as a woman.

When both the students must return home, Zhu invites Liang to visit her family and to court her sister. He doesn't know that Zhu is really inviting him to marry her. Liang promises to see Zhu again, but Liang waits before doing so. When Liang arrives, he sees Zhu and realizes that she is a woman, and they fall in love. The solo violin and cello parts play a sad duet that is the most famous and powerful of the work.

The love duet between the two is replaced by anger as Liang learns that in his absence, Zhu has been betrothed to another. This section is called 英台抗婚(Yīnɡtái kànɡ hūn), referring to Zhu's defiance of her father's order of marrying another man. The two solo parts contrast the rest of the orchestra. Several melodies are used in this section, the orchestra plays loud and accented chords in between the softer cello and violin parts and the parts are often intertwined.

Liang becomes sick and dies as the music replays the duet of their love. Zhu and the orchestra continue to play their contrasting parts. The section ends with the suicide of Zhu Yingtai as the solo violin plays an overarching high note. The lover's parts are overcome by a final orchestral section. In the legend, Liang's grave opens and Zhu throws herself into the chasm. This final section is called 坟前化蝶 (fén qián huà dié); the love theme reappears and is set off against soft flowing orchestral background, signifying the final freedom and eternal love of the two butterfly lovers.